Reparations Revisited

Great Debates
1

Overall, blacks have been quite patient in waiting for the United States to get its act together. The U.S failed to reintegrate blacks into society during Reconstruction and it failed to thwart state-legislated Jim Crow laws prior to the Civil Rights Movement. Now, the U.S is reneging on the Civil Rights Movement by curtailing the Voting Rights Act, dismantling Affirmative Action programs, and cutting back on programs that help the poor. Moreover, the U.S are allowing states to exert their anti-minority policies without even a hint of challenge. Then, when we finally get an African-American president, these same slave-holding states send an unprecedented wave of anti-government representatives to make sure that the President does not succeed. The farce is over. It has become crystal clear that a wide portion of the electorate does not want blacks to succeed and that government intervention is again necessary to balance the scales.

I would like to revisit reparations as a means to free the United States of this problem once and for all.

Reparation (First Step): The U.S government shall pay moving and living expenses to all eligible blacks to voluntary migrate to any non-U.S region. The U.S government will pay the median income of their city of residence until death.

Reparation (Second Step): The U.S government shall declare cities with large African-American populations to be Renaissance zones and offer non-interest bearing loans for promotion the arts and sciences as well as the building of schools, roads, and other pertinent infrastructure projects.

Reparation (Third Step): Finish dismantling Affirmative Action and the Civil Rights Act. And, let’s not kid ourselves: this was the intention after MLK died anyway.

Limitations: Reparation Payments by the U.S government shall cease 400 years after adoption and annual payments shall not exceed 10% of U.S GDP. If the ceiling is reached, previous slave-holding states will forced to contribute the excess up to 25% U.S GDP. If annual Reparations Payments exceed this cap, Reparations Payments shall be temporarily reduced accordingly.

Eligibility: DNA test to determine a critical mass of African-American polymorphisms. This means that some “white” people would be eligible. This is a feature, not a bug. Benefits begin at 25 years of age, however, benefits can start as early as 19 if the individual has no surviving parent.

Since the electorate believes blacks are a burden to the U.S, reparations would allow blacks to migrate to a country that would appreciate them. By cutting the population of blacks in the country, the previous slave-holding states and their followers will no longer have to whine about Affirmative Action programs, how they want to take back their country, or how federal oversight of elections is an overstep of government. You can finally have a country without the blacks ruining it and we can finally be somewhere where we can live out our very short existence on this planet in peace and prosperity.

  • Honesty
2

An unworkable idea, and based on an argument that makes no sense. Why would a US government that is as hostile to black people as you say do any of that?

And there’s no such thing as a “DNA test to determine a critical mass of African-American polymorphisms”.

3

I agree completely with Der Trihs. In addition to what he said, what “non-U.S. region” are you referring to? The “non-U.S. regions” might have some concerns about sudden massive immigration, regardless of the race of those immigrants. Paying those immigrants not to work (as your statement sounds) would not alleviate all those concerns.

4

It’s hard to even figure out where to start. Honesty, isn’t almost as if you came up with an unworkable plan on purpose. Maybe you’re just ready to pop out a more reasonable idea that looks so good by comparison we’ll all jump on the bandwagon. No, no reparations. Especially reparations based on genetic makeup.

What makes you think other countries will automatically take US citizens who want to move there?

Where is the money supposed to come from to fund these reparation programs?

5

Honesty, did you come up with all this on your own, or is there someone else you can share the blame with?

6

If the electorate believes blacks are a burden to the US, why in the world would they agree to relocate them and give them money for life?

Seriously, why exactly does the US government owe black people anything?

7

Centuries of slavery, institutionalized racism, and discrimination, the effects of which demonstrably persist throughout the US today.

I agree that the OP is (to put it politely) a crock, but even I can understand the motivation.

8

No,Honesty, you don’t get money for being black.

Regards,
Shodan

9

Yeah, I get it, but throwing money at them is going to make all of that go away?

Maybe, maybe an official apology is warranted, but even then, that’s like having the descendants of Brutus apologize to the descendants of Caesar.

10

Honesty, are you being serious or is this meant as a parody thread?

If it’s meant to be serious it’s unworkable because frankly most African-Americans would view the suggestion as insulting and I doubt you’d find any “non-US region” that would want to take them.

You’d be better off suggesting all African-Americans undergo a mass conversion to Judaism and then get Israeli citizenship, move to Israel, and put in place their own government.

11

Hello, 1816.

The Back to Africa movement didn’t work then and I seriously doubt it would work long after assimilation into American culture. :dubious:

Paul Coffee must be rubbing his hands together in his grave.

12

According to Wikipedia, the estimated black American population is 38,929,319. Where would that many people go? That’s enough people to populate a good-sized nation; more than live in Canada.

13

That’s actually larger than210 of the 244 wiki-reported countries! :eek: That’s an incredible way to look at it.

To follow this line of reasoning, we had a GDP of 15.6 T in 2012. 10% of that is 1.5 T, which is roughly $38,500 a year for each of 39 million people. Additionally, Federal tax revenue was 2.8 T in 2013, so we’d have to jump taxes by 60 % (47% direct tax increase, roughly 13% increase due to population loss).

There is no fiscal way this would work.

14

Honesty, since you were obviously inspired to do this by the anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X at the hands of the Nation of Islam a couple of questions.

Do you think the Nation of Islam should pay “reparations” to the family of Malcolm X for his killing and would you favor for pushing for an investigation by the Federal government into the question of Louis Farrakhan’s role in the murder of Malcolm X in front of his family?

Did you also find it disgusting how many African-American supporters of Malcolm X showed up at Louis Farrakhan’s “Million Man March”, many of who were so stupid they wore X baseball caps while cheering for Louis Farrakhan as he gave his three-and-a-half hour speech on numerology?

Also, since it was revealed in his most recent, Pulitzer Prize winning biography that Malcolm X was a closeted gay man do you think that information should be regularly taught about Malcolm X as a way to emphasize the commonality of the struggle for both black and gay equality?

15

Why should blacks, who’ve been in the United States as long or longer than almost any other ethnic group, want to leave their country?

16

That’s an extremely good question, but respectfully, it’s more than a bit ironic coming from you. :slight_smile:

I’m sure you’re aware of how Marcus Garvey and the U.N.I.A. are now almost forgotten, but at their time were quite popular and referred to as “black Zionists”.

For that matter, I’m sure you’re aware how many early Zionist leaders sometimes pointed to Liberia.

A better question might be why “Zionism” was ultimately more successful and popular than “black Zionism”.

17

Is that number based on a “DNA test to determine a critical mass of African-American polymorphisms.” Otherwise, it might not be accurate.

18

A touch, a touch, I do confess.

19

There’s a significant portion of the electorate that probably believes this stuff, but I strongly believe that the majority of Americans do not want black people in America to leave. I certainly don’t!

20

The portion that both wants black Americans to leave the country, and would be willing to pay vast sums to black Americans to make it happen, is probably near zero.